This week (1/18) Inside Baseball will originate live from the Warehouse at 4th and Webster in Oakland beginning at 6 PM airing on 1550 am KYCY in the Bay Area. Ken Korach, A’s manager Bob Geren, and Susan Slusser will join me via telephone. The Rangers hope Sammy Sosa will be their 2007 version of Frank Thomas. How do you like Carlos Zambrano asking for 15.5 million in salary arbitration? Guess we know what sort of money he will be looking for next winter. [Read more →]

Inside Baseball with Marty Lurie – Hall of fame: Will McGwire ever make it to the Hall?, Bonds: Testing Positive? Piazza: Will he have the impact Frank Thomas had?

Segment one : Marty & Ken Korach
Segment two : Marty & New York Vinnie (Seattle)
Segment three : Marty & Vince Cotroneo
Segment four : Marty & Callers: Curt from Fairfield [Read more →]

One thing I don’t do is worry about how much money billionaires should spend on their baseball teams.

These folks are not in the same world with the rest of us working for a living on a daily basis.

Baseball owners think about flying to Paris, that’s France, not Texas, for lunch.

Let them throw around their millions for ball players. All I’m interested in is how the team will play next season.

I don’t care if Barry Zito is worth 10 mil per year or 15 mil, just tell me where he is going to pitch in ’07.

Ball clubs set arbitrary payroll limits. They all make money, people are falling all over each other buying ball clubs once they hit the market.

It’s just a matter of how little money a club can spend to keep the turnstiles moving and keep the people who pay the bills interested. Those people being fans plus the television folks, cable and national who really line the owners pockets.

If the Giants really want Barry Bonds they can afford it. Haven’t heard of Peter Magowan not buying a new flat screen television because of the money he might have to spend on Bonds.

Click below for more! [Read more →]

Willie Mays: An Original
by Glenn Dickey
May 03, 2006

WILLIE MAYS turns 75 on Saturday, which was noted by John Shea, who did a lengthy interview of Mays for this morning’s Chronicle. As one who saw Mays for all of his San Francisco Giants career – and who also had an illuminating interview with Mays for my Giants history book: “San Francisco Giants, 40 years” -–I’d like to share some of my memories.

Mays was simply the best all-round player I’ve ever seen, and everybody who watched him play felt the same. “When you talk to players from different eras,” said Alvin Dark, “there are always those who stand out for the guys who played with them. When I’ve talked to players from the ‘30s, Joe DiMaggio was that guy. For those in my era, Willie was the one.” Maybe even more than DiMaggio. Leonard Koppett was a friend of DiMaggio’s, but he always said Mays was the best he’d seen.

Click below for more, great column Glenn…Marty [Read more →]

Barry Bonds: Still the Catalyst for Giants
by Glenn Dickey
May 02, 2006

BARRY BONDS will be a mixed blessing for the Giants this season.

Bonds now looks a lot like Frank Thomas with the A’s, but the A’s can use Thomas as a designated hitter and not have to play him in the field. The Giants have to put Bonds in left field and just hope that he doesn’t have to make any tough plays.

The Giants can put together a very good defensive outfield when Bonds doesn’t play, with Randy Winn in left field, Steve Finley in center and Moises Alou in right, with Jason Ellison in reserve. The versatile Winn is best in left field, and he made two sensational catches to save a win last weekend. At 41, Finley is still an outstanding defensive center fielder, though his bat isn’t what it was. Alou is off to his best start in years at the plate, and he does a good job in right field, too.

Click below for more!

[Read more →]

Here is March 2nd’s Inside Baseball show:

Part 1/4

Part 2/4

Part 3/4

Part 4/4

[Read more →]

by Glenn Dickey
Feb 27, 2006
WHEN I WROTE on February 16 that the A’s inability to get an AM radio station with a strong signal was the chief reason they remain the second team in the Bay Area market, readers insisted there were two other reasons the Giants are No. 1:

–They were here first, coming to San Francisco in 1958. The A’s came to Oakland 10 years later. [Read more →]

by Glenn Dickey
Feb 21, 2006

SOMETIMES I wonder if my colleagues are watching the same sports I’m watching.

For instance, The Sporting News did an analysis of baseball teams’ offseason moves, and there were some real mind-bogglers in there.

New Dodger general manager (and former Giants assistant) Ned Colletti was given four stars (out of a possible five) for his roster overhaul. In fact, though, the only really positive change for the Dodgers is the apparent good health of closer Eric Gagne. [Read more →]

by Glenn Dickey
Jan 27, 2006

THE BEST part of the Frank Thomas signing is what A’s general manager Billy Beane has done before.

Because he acquired Milton Bradley from the Dodgers, the A’s can view Thomas as frosting on the cake. If he can stay healthy for at least 100 games, he’ll provide a very important power boost. If he doesn’t. . . well, the A’s still have a very solid lineup. [Read more →]

Cuba got Visas,so they will participate in
the first World Baseball Classic starting this
March 3 in Japan.
Some countries threatened to boycott if
Cuba didn’t come in, that was the epitome
of hypocrisy. For anybody that has really
followed baseball in the Caribbean is it a
joke !

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]